Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Mentioned in Genesis

Luz is the ancient name of a royal

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite city, connected with

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

(

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel represent the same town - the former the Canaanite name, and the latter the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

name - or whether they were distinct places in close proximity to each other. According to the King James Version (KJV), Luz was renamed by Jacob: "And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.” (

28:19)

Mentioned in Book of Judges

A second city called Luz, founded by a man who came from the original Luz, is mentioned in

Judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

1:23:

²²And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and the LORD was with them. ²³ And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el—now the name of the city beforetime was Luz. ²⁴ And the watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him: 'Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee.' ²⁵ And he showed them the entrance into the city, and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family. ²⁶ And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day.

This second Luz is identified by some with

Wazzani Al-Wazzani (Al-Ouazzani, also known as Arab al-Louaizeh or Aarab El Louaizeh),Water Wars in the Middle East: A Looming Threat, Hussein A. Amery, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 168, 2002 is a municipality in the Marjayoun District of the Nabat ...

, four miles northwest of

Banias Banias (; ; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: , etc.; ), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 years, until its Syrian population fle ...

, in the

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References

{{Reflist Torah cities